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Thursday, 29 May 2014

Military Memories 30: Lest We Forget

Over the past month I
have featured the members of my immediate family who served in two
world wars. I finish this Military Memories Challenge by highlighting the
way we remember those who served and those who died. LEST
WE FORGET.

I persuaded my father to write down his memories and Dad's own words form the basis of this family historynarrative (left) , supplemented by letters written to my mother in 1944 and photographs from the family collection. It was a very enjoyable and at times moving project to read Dad's own words and compile this tribute.

I was also proud to contribute Dad's story to the BBC "People's War" - a major project where the public were invited to post wartime memories online. An archive of 47,000 stories and 15,000 images was the result.

From national memorials to small village crosses we remember those who were killed in war, including my two great uncles John and George Danson.

The
Cenotaph in London began as a temporary structure erected for a peace
parade following the end of the First World War but following an
outpouring of national sentiment it was replaced in 1920 by a permanent
structure and designated the United Kingdom's primary national war
memorial.Designed by Edwin Lutyens and built of Portland Stone, the memorial was unveiled by King George V on 11 November 1920, the second anniversary of the end of the war. The unveiling ceremony for the Cenotaph was part of a larger procession bringing the Unknown Solider to be laid to rest in his tomb in Westminster Abbey.

The term "Cenotaph" relates to a monument to honour those who died, whose bodies are buried elsewhere or have no known grave.

Minto War Memorial, near Hawick in the Scottish Borders

Taynuilt in Argyll, Scotland

Clitheroe, Lancashire, England

Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge in the Scottish Highlands. It overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle.

Isle of Iona, looking across to Mull

War Memorial at Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire with the names of my two great uncles John and George Danson

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About Me

I have been interested in family history for years. It all began when I was allowed as a child to look through the old family photographs and memorabilia kept in a shoebox in the cupboard at my grandfather's house. That treat started me on a fascinating ancestral trail.